I went to the Dec. 19 Naugatuck Board of Mayor and Burgesses meeting to discuss the upcoming proposal/purchase of the General DataComm property (Dec. 20 story, "Burgesses OK DataComm deal"). Since it was my first meeting, I spent time preparing my questions. I left the meeting frustrated, with few questions answered and (as a taxpayer) a future owner of the GDC property, which has many issues.

Even with many questions asked by the audience unanswered, the board still voted 8-1 to buy this property. Here were some of the questions: "How will you make up the $200,000 a year in lost tax revenue the GDC was paying?" "Are they current?" "While the property sits there for 10 years, how will you make up the $2 million in lost revenue?" The answer was it is an investment and the GDC is current. "How much will it cost to fix the damaged roof as stated by the board?" (The building is 320,000 square feet.) Answer: We are going to patch it for $2 million. "How much will it cost to fix the three broken elevators?" There was no answer. "How much will it cost to bring the building up to code because there is a tenant remaining in the building?" No answer. "How much will it cost to maintain the building on a yearly basis?" No answer.

There also are major soil contaminants that need to be remediated. None of these questions had a specific or estimated expense.

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